Lemon Chicken

Quite a few times now, i have slightly altered the recipe, or in the light of the cooking, wish i had. Mainly this has been to cut corners when nigella has been overly laborious, or because my oven seems to be much more efficient than hers and i end up over-cooking things. So, instead of repeating exactly what nigella recommends, i am going to put in my slight amendments.

And a classic example of this is this lemon chicken. Lemony - tick; chicken - overdone. Nigella suggests cooking it for 30 mins at 210c, but in my modern, efficient oven, i'm going to suggest 25-30mins at 200c.

- Take a large chicken cut into 8 portions (or simply take 8 portions of chicken) and cook them for 2 mins in an oven dish of 6 tablespoons of hotolive oil.

- Add the zest of 2 lemons, 1 tablespoon of oregano, 300ml white wine, and salt and pepper.

- Allow to bubble, then add 300ml water.

- Put in the oven and cook for 25-30mins at 200c.

- Remove the chicken and measure out 300ml of chicken juices.

- Whisk together 3 eggs and the juice of 2 lemons until frothy.

- Slowly add the chicken juices whilst still whisking to create an "avgolemono sauce" to create a thin custardy, but tasty sauce.

- Season and pour over the chicken.

The result is very lemony, but the sauce is slightly disappointing. You could have just added some lemon juice to the cooking juices and then use these as gravy. I'm not sure i really get avgolemono sauce, but maybe i didn't make it properly.

Custard Tart

Hmmm.... Not the best birthday cake ever made, but hopefully she won't remember! Nigella says this is tricky and it is. The problem is making sure that the pastry base is completely water-tight so that when you add the custard mixture, it doesn't all leak out. I lost about half of my custard this way.

Nigella also cooks her pastry far too hot, so that the sides burn before the base is done. She says she covers the sides top prevent them burning, but i'm not convinced. When i tried this on the second bake, all that happened was that the tin foil stuck to the pastry, hence the uneven pastry sides.

The leaking was however, all my own fault. A few tears appeared when moving from worktop to flan case, and i thought i'd patched them up with pastry, but not good enough it seems. Basically your rolled out pastry needs to be perfect and you need to move it perfectly into the flan tin. Sealing the pastry with the egg white just isn't enough.

- Bake the pastry blind for 20 mins at 200C (using pastry beans on top to weigh it down)

- Beat an egg white and brush this onto the pastry base and cook it again (without the beans) for a further 5 mins.

- Lightly whisk together 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk, and 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (or plain sugar with a drop of vanilla essence).

- Warm 300ml single cream and 150ml milk in a saucepan with a pince of ground mace.

- Add the egg/sugar mixture, stir and strain into the pastry case, (the pastry case on a pulled out oven shelf so It it doesn't spill when putting in the oven).

- Grate over some nutmeg and cook at 160c for 35-45 mins.

It tasted pretty good. The pastry was delicious (where it wasn't burnt!) but i was disappointed with the custard. It tasted a bit bland to me, although Tara seemed to think this was classic english custard. I prefer the sweeter, richer Portuguese style of custard. Maybe a touch more sugar next time.

Cream of Chicken Soup

Having cooked this, I'm not sure i've ever had a proper cream of chicken soup before - ever! It's not something i've ever cooked before, i never order something like this in a restaurant, and no-one has ever served at a dinner party. The closest i have come is out of a packet, and that's not very close. I can heartily recommend it though - a true classic that is definitely under-represented on today's menus.

- Melt 30g butter and cook 200g finely sliced leeks in it for 10 mins or until soft.

- Put 300ml chicken stock and 300ml milk in a saucepan, add a clove of garlic, 2 bay leaves and a chicken breast and bring to the boil.

- Simmer until the chicken breast is just tender, probably only 5-10 mins after the mixture has boiled, then remove the chicken.

- Add 1 tablespoon of flour to the leeks, cook for a couple mins, then add the milk/stock mixture, keeping on the simmer.

- Finely shred the chicken, add this to the sauce, add a pinch of salt and cook for a further 5 mins.

- Add 15g butter and cook for a further 5 mins, adding extra milk if it starts to look like white sauce.

- Put it in a blender, and sieve into a saucepan.

- Put back on the heat, add an egg yolk and 3 tablespoons double cream.

It sounds quite complicated for a soup, but basically it's cook, blend, sieve. The chicken gives up its flavour really well and makes it taste delicious. It's worth it just to know what a proper cream of chicken soup tastes like.

Chicken Stock

This is does not technically count as one of the recipes, as there's no recipe list in the book, but seeing as i made it, I might as well record it. I didn't have most of the vegetables that Nigella suggests, but i'm not sure it matters. I also added in the left over gravy.

- Put the chicken carcass into a large pan together with celery, 1 carrot, 1 onion, a clove, some peppercorns, a bouquet garni, parsley stalks and the white of a leek.

- Cover with water, add some salt and simmer for 3 hours.

- Strain off the froth and scum as it rises to the surface.

The problem now comes of storing it. Nigella though suggests freezing in a freezer bag, inside a jug, and then removing the jug when its frozen. I just don't have space in my freezer to do things like that. I immediately went out and bought lots of tuppaware to store it in - stackable tuppaware rules!

Roast Chicken

Nigella's roast chicken recipe is almost too simple. She advocates simply buying the best chicken possible and roasting with some butter smeared over it and stuffed with a lemon. I'm afraid that i adulterated this with a Jamie Oliver inspired, herb fantasia and stuffing it into every crevice a chicken can offer. i think this adds a bit more flavour.

- Put a handful of thyme and rosemary in a pestle.

- Mix with olive oil and seasoning.

- Take the mixture and paste half of it between the breast skin and the breast meat.

- Paste the rest of it all over the chicken.

- Add dollops of butter to the skin and inside the chicken.

- Stuff also with a lemon, cut in half, half squeezing the lemon juice into the bird

- Cook for 20 mins per lb (200g) and 20 mins over.

- Baste with the juices every 20 mins.

- With 60 mins to go, add whole shallots and cloves of garlic to the roasting tin

- Remove the chicken and rest upside down, so that the juices gravitate downwards towards the breast meat.

- For the gravy, add white wine to the roasting tin and de-glaze.

I can honestly say, this was a great success. The shallots caramelise along with the garlic and work wonderfully. And as i learnt from Sarah Knott, you can never add too much lemon or butter to a roast chicken. According to Sam the other evening, this could be the "best roast chicken I've ever tasted"!

Lamb Gigot Boulangere

I cooked this over a week ago, but in the meantime, my daughter has joined us in the world! From what i can remember of the world pre-Marni, it was delicious, particularly the boulangere potatoes, something i've never cooked before, but will definitely do so again.

Cut 2 cloves of garlic into spike shapes, stab the lamb and and insert into the meat.

Coat the meat with butter.

Finely chop together an onion (or shallots), 2 bay leaves, and a handful of thyme.

Peel and thinly slice 3-4 potatoes, then blanch in salt water for 2-3 mins.

Dry them and lay them in a buttered roasting dish.

Add dollops of butter, salt, pepper and the thyme mixture as you go.

Pour over 100-150ml of stock.

Cook for 30 mins at 200C, then add the lamb on top, cooking for a further 30-60 mins to taste.

I have to say, the result was great - probably due to the amount of butter i used on the potatoes and the lamb, but also because the infusion of flavours because of the relatively long cooking time. And that was using ordinary vegetable stock - heavens knows what it would taste like with lamb stock!

Vegetable Soup

What i like about Nigella's vegetable soup recipe is the parsnips and turnips, which give it an earthy depth that you don't get with just carrots and potatoes. i followed the recipe exactly (as i always try to!) but of course all manner of vegetable variations would work. The addition of the dry sherry is a revelation. I was also tempted to add some double cream or creme fraiche at the end - but she doesn't, so i didn't, but you could.

- Chop an onion, a turnip, a parsnip, a potato, a leek, 2 carrots and a stick of celery either by hand or using a blender.

- Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and add the vegetables and some salt.

- Fry/cook for 10-15 mins with the lid on, turning occasionally.

- Add 1 litre of vegetable stock, a bouquet garni and lots of pepper.

- Simmer for 30-40 mins.

- Blend the soup together to taste - i like it not too pureed.

- Add some nutmeg, parsley and 2 tablespoons of dry sherry.

Delicious with the white loaf I've just made and perfect for the onset of autumn...

Basic White Loaf

I've made bread many times, but never by following Nigella. She seems to advocate more provings than i've done before, plus additional olive oil in the mix. The result was a tasty light loaf, one of the best i've done, and worth the extra time it takes.

- Mix 300g of strong flour, a sachet of yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon sugar. (Nigella recommends the worktop, but i recommend a bowl!)

- Then gradually add 170ml of warm water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, bringing together with your hands.

- Knead for 10 mins, then cover with some clingfilm and a tea towel and leave for 30 mins.

- Knead for 3 mins, and leave again for 30 mins.

- Gently knead (nigella says "fold" but not sure what this is!) for a further 2-3 mins, and leave for 10 mins

- Move to a loaf tin or baking tray and leave in warm place for 45-60 mins

- Bake for 35 mins at 220c/ Gas 8

I guarantee you won't have any left within 24 hours!

Steak au Poivre

First recipe down - Steak au poivre - and it was delicious.

- Brush steak with olive oil

- Add crushed peppercorn coating to each side.

- Sear both sides in hot oil.

- Turn heat to medium and add 1-2 tablespoons butter

- Cook 2-3 mins each side.

- Remove, add brandy/marsala/vermouth to the juices and cook for a few mins.

- Add some salt and cream, and voila - a classic start!

I normally only like to use very expensive steak - if you are going to eat meat, you may as well do it properly. But shepherds in primrose hill only had £6 pork chop, a £7 steak or a £1.25 minute steak. so minute steak it was and worked out fine.

I had this with some braised cabbage that tara had cooked for 2 hours earlier in the day, and roasted swede. Swede tastes much better roasted than mashed i reckon.

So a good start - only 503 pages to go and i have no idea how many recipes - i'll have to count them now and let you know.

Pudding was a cheesecake - my favourite . Made at the last minute, but not in "How to Eat" - not sure i would have chosen "How to Eat" if i'd known this!

- Crush some biscuits (i used lemon zest ones)

- Add to decent amount of melted butter

- Stir, add to cake tin, pat down and cook in oven for 10-15 mins

- Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, creme fraiche and icing sugar in a bowl.

- Add vanilla essence to taste.

- Add on top of the biscuit base, once cooled.

- Add topping and chill for 20-30 mins.

I had it with a glass of montbazillac that i've had for ages and opened last night. in fact it was the main reason i made the cheesecake!

Now just got to figure out what to make tomorrow - next page has beef carpaccio which is new to me and i love. so here's hoping.

andy

Andy's "mainly cooking" blog

Inspired by "Julie and Julia", i am attempting to keep a record of everything i cook from Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat". I'm not yet sure whether this will just about cooking, or will inevitably include other subjects as the mood takes me. We'll see. I'm also undecided whether this will be just for me - as a simple way of keeping of a diary - or whether to make it public.

cheers

andy